Why this?

The occasional poem of my own and a generous helping of work by others that I find inspiring. Site is named for a beloved book by one of my favorite writers, Italo Calvino, whose fanciful work lights--and delights--my soul.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Self-Portrait at 36 with David

Barnegat Light, New Jersey—April 4, 2015Because looking at myself w/ out you beside me is unnatural& though the light is all wrong—your camera slung & upthe light feels right to me, warm & soft, your chest pressedtowards my back, both our heads angling towards the dock,boat slips on the bay—all the scallops secure in the sea still,their bone-less bodies soft. & our own getting softer each day.Sometimes the mirror makes our features fun-house style& we’re way more old age than the teen age we most times feel,or the slight of shutter promises supple & smooth, where edge& ravine & straight up wrinkle have arrived & settled inlike vulnerable house guests we don’t have the heart to kick out.How comfortable they’ve become all over our fine faces& my neck—how they’ve become familiar w/ our privacy. Howwe’ve begun to cradle them. Stitch & loom. In the photographthere we are—chins tilted towards one another, mouths closed& turned up. A type of satisfaction dead in this middle we’re both in.--Ellen Hagan